International film glossary

A glossary of common words and technical terminology used by projectionists and film exhibitors — in many languages.

This glossary is intended to help anyone searching for information about analog film projection and exhibition locate resources in non-English languages.

Disclaimer: This list may contain inaccuracies - Sprocket School editors are mainly native English speakers and are creating it based on internet research, words on film leader and film can labels, and conversations with other projectionists.

• Get in touch if you have a suggestion or correction: info@sprocketschool.org

External Resources

• Oliver Heidelbach’s Online Film Dictionary
• FIAF’s Glossary of Filmographic Terms
• The "Languages" sidebar to the left of every Wikipedia entry (on a desktop computer)

Glossary

Azerbaijani

• movie theater — kinoteatr

Bambara

• movie theater — sinima

Belarusian

• movie theater — Кінатэатр

Bulgarian

• celluloid — Целулоѝдът
• movie theater — Киносалон

Albanian

• movie theater / cinema — kino / kinema / bioskopi / filmteatri

Arabic

• celluloid — سيلولويد
• a movie — فيلم
• movie theater / cinema — سينما
• screen — شاشة عرض

Catalan

• movie theater — sala de cinema / cinema
• screen — pantalla de projecció

Chinese

• 35mm — 35毫米
• a movie — 电影
• celluloid — 賽璐珞
• movie theater — 电影院

Croatian

• movie theater — kino

Czech

• celluloid — celuloid
• movie theater — kino

Danish

• celluloid — celluloid
• film projector — filmfremviser
• movie theater — biograf

Dutch

• celluloid — celluloid
• movie theater — bioscoop
• screen — projectiescherm

Estonian

• movie theater — kino

Finnish

• celluloid — selluloidi
• a movie — elokuva
• motion picture film — kinofilmi
• movie theater — elokuvateatteri
• screen — valkokangas

French

• celluloid — celluloïd
• cue mark — repère de changement de bobine
• projectionist — projectionniste
• reel — bobine
• movie theater / cinema — salle de cinéma / cinéma

Gaelic

• movie theater — pictiúrlann

German

• celluloid — Zelluloid
• changeover — Überblendung
• core (for winding film) — Wickelkern / Bobby
• film projector — Filmprojektor / Laufbildprojektor / Projektor
• frame line — Bildstrich
• movie theater / cinema — Kino
• projectionist — Filmvorführer
• reel — Spule
• print (film) — kopie
• projection booth — Bildwerferraum
• screen — Bildwand
• screen — Leinwand
• screen — Projektionswand
• splicer — Klebepressen

Hebrew

• celluloid — צלולואיד
• movie theater — בית קולנוע

Hindi

• a movie — फ़िल्म
• celluloid — सेलुलॉइड

Hungarian

• movie theater / cinema — filmszínház
• projection — vetités
• reel — tekercs (plural: tekercset)

Icelandic

• movie theater — kvikmyndahús

Indonesian

• celluloid — seluloid
• movie theater — bioskop
• outdoor film screening (specific Indonesian tradition) — layar tancep
• film print — cetakan
• projector — proyektor
• projectionist — operator projektor
• roll of film — gulungan film
• screen — layar

Italian

• celluloid — celluloide
• cue mark — bollini di sincronizzazione / segnali di coda
• movie theater / cinema — cinema / sala cinematografica
• projectionist — proiezionista

Japanese

• 35mm — 35ミリ
• acetate — アセテート
• analog — アナログ
• anamorphic — アナモフィック
• aperture plate — 開口プレート
• archive — アーカイブ
• aspect ratio — アスペクト比
• celluloid — セルロイド
• mini theater — ミニシアター
• movie — 映画 or 電影
• movie theater / cinema — 映画館
• projection — 映写
• projectionist — 映写技師
• projector (specifically movie projectors) — 映写機
• projector (more general term) — プロジェクタ
• reel — フィルム一巻 or リール
• screen — スクリーン

Javanese

• movie theater — biyoskup

Korean

• celluloid — 셀룰로이드
• a movie — 영화
• movie theater — 영화관
• screen — 스크린

Latvian

• movie theater — kinoteātris

Lithuanian

• movie theater — kino teatras

Luxembourgish

• movie theater — Kino

Norwegian

• movie theater — kino

Macedonian

• movie theater — Кино

Malay

• movie theater — pawagam / panggung wayang gambar
• screened — ditayangkan

Mongolian

• movie theater — Кинотеатр

Pashto

• movie theater — سينما

Persian

• a movie — فیلم
• movie theater — سینما

Polish

• celluloid — celuloid
• motion picture film stock — taśma filmowa
• movie theater / cinema — kino
• screen — ekran kinowy / ekran projekcyjny

Portuguese

• a movie — filme / fita / película
• celluloid — celuloide
• movie theater — sala de cinema / cinema

Romanian

• movie theater — cinematograf / sală de cinema

Russian

• 35mm — 35-мм
• a movie — Фильм
• celluloid — Целлулоид
• movie theater — Кинотеатр

Serbian

• movie theater — Биоскоп / кино

Spanish

• analog — analógico
• anamorphic — anamorfico
• celluloid — celuloide
• grain — grano
• lens — lente
• a movie — película / film / filme / peli
• movie theater / cinema — sala de proyección / sala de cine / cine
• projection — proyección
• projection booth — cabina de proyección / cabina / caseta
• projectionist — proyeccionista / operador de cine
• projector — proyector
• reel — rollo
• screen — pantalla de proyección

Slovak

Much of this information is from reading inspection forms that came from a Slovak film distributor

• aspect ratio — obrazovy formát / formát obrazového pole
• audio — zvuk
• celluloid — celuloid
• film format — nosič
• film print — filmového materiálu
• inspection — kontrole
• movie theater / cinema — kino
• screening — predstavení
• soundtrack — stopa
• splice — nalepené ukázky
• projection booth — promitací kabina
• projectionist — promítač

Slovenian

• movie theater — kino

Sudanese

• movie theater — bioskop

Swahili

• a movie — filamu
• movie theater — jumba la sinema

Swedish

• celluloid — celluloid
• movie theater / cinema — biograf
• projectionist — biografmaskinist
• screen — filmduk (plural: filmduken)

Tagalog

• movie theater — sinehan

Tamil

• a movie — திரைப்படம்
• celluloid — செலுலாயிடு

Thai

• movie theater — โรงภาพยนตร

Turkish

• celluloid — selüloit
• movie theater — sinema

Ukranian

• 35mm — 35 мм
• celluloid — Целулоїд
• movie theater — Кінотеа́тр

Vietnamese

• a movie — bộ phim
• motion picture film — phim nhựa
• movie theater — rạp chiếu phim
• screen — màn chiếu

Welsh

• movie theater — sinema

Wolof

• movie theater — sinemaa

Zulu

• a movie — ifilimu
• movie theater / cinema — ibhayisikobho